Portal:Ohio/Selected Biography/5
Jack Leonard "J.L." Warner, born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, Canada, was the president and driving force behind the successful development of Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Warner's 45-year career was lengthier than that of any other traditional Hollywood studio mogul.
Throughout his career, he was viewed as a contradictory and enigmatic figure. Although he was a staunch Republican, Warner encouraged film projects that promoted the agenda of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. He speedily grasped the threat posed by European fascism and criticized Nazi Germany well before America's involvement in World War II. During the postwar era, however, Warner supported an anti-Communist crusade that culminated in the "blacklisting" of Hollywood directors, actors, screenwriters, and technicians. Despite his controversial public image, Warner remained a force in the motion picture industry until his retirement in the early 1970s.